Yovani Gallardo may have had some bad luck on balls in play as he struck out seven in six frames, walking only one run, and keeping the ball in the park but still getting dinged for four runs on eight hits. That bad luck in his stat line did not infect his role in the outcome as he still got credit for the win over Houston. The 14 runs the Brewers scored on Astros pitching helped.

Ted Lilly allowed five runs on 11 hits in four and a third and he was arguably the more effective of the two starters in Saturday’s Cubs/Dodgers tilt. Ryan Dempster was tagged for seven runs on nine hits and three walks in five and two thirds. Because of Matt Guerrier’s five run implosion, neither starter figured into the decision.

Tim Stauffer and Carlos Zambrano held down the Cubs and Padres offenses respectively for a combined 15 shutout innings. Zambrano struck out 10. The two pitchers walked two batters and allowed seven total hits between them. They each received no decisions in a game where the first and only run was scored in the 10th inning.

Continuing with Cubs/Padres, Dustin Moseley and Matt Garza traded zeroes with one unearned run charged to Moseley being the only dent either saw in their time on the mound. Garza was in line for the win when Carlos Marmol allowed a run to blow the save.

Josh Johnson held the Rockies to one run on three hits and three walks in seven frames. The lead was blown almost immediately after he left the game as Clay Hensley allowed two runs in the eighth and Johnson had to live with a no decision, and Mike Dunn, who pitched to two batters, got the win after a Marlins comeback.

And for the first time this season, Miguel Batista accomplished my favorite statistical oddity, getting a loss and a hold in the same game. If you forgot how this is possible, he entered the game in a save situation, allowed base runners and was removed from the game with it still being a save situation, thus earning him the hold. The next pitcher in the game allowed those base runners to score, charging them to Batista and handing him the loss.

Any sufficiently advanced defense is indistinguishable from pitching

Jon Garlandwent the full nine, facing 31 batters. He only struck out four of those 31 and was dinged with one run on four hits. That is a lot of balls in play finding only glove.

Danny Valencia drove in six runs, but his week was poor in general, with a .250/.250/.375 line in 24 at bats.

Sanchez Award

You will see A.J. Pierzynski again in this column for reasons that are interconnected to this achievement. He failed to walk or hit for power but did put the ball in play, leading to his .333/.318/.333 line in 21 plate appearances.

Robinson Cano has secondary skills, but they didn’t show up this week. .333/.316/.389 in 18 plate appearances.

Darwin Barney is an outstanding name. But that name was connected to .321/.321/.357 this week.

I can’t be expected to pass up an opportunity to aim a jab at Yuniesky Betancourt. When he goes .308/.310/.385, he is giving me the green light to do so. Well done Yuni.

Pablo Sandoval collected only four hits, but two of them went for extra bases and he walked three times. On a side note, when most people say the name Pablo Sandoval, they think of Jack Black. I think of a guy with the same surname who hits really high notes on a trumpet.

AL: If you sold high on Jose Bautista in a keeper league expecting him to turn back into a pumpkin, you are probably gritting your teeth over that decision given how well last year’s out-of-nowhere breakout is doing in 2011. This week, he was simply out of his mind. He rapped out three singles, a double, a triple, and he homered four times. He also walked seven times in 26 PA for a .474/.615/1.263 line.

NL: Teammates Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder share the NL honors. Braun went .480/.533/.840 with three home runs and four walks in 29 PA. Fielder went .458/.552/.667 with three doubles, a triple, and four walks in 28 PA.

Comments

I’m a big Youkilis fan and had him targetted in our fantasy auction, but when the day came, the autobid computer was fighting me for him, bidding for a friend of mine who’s a huge BoSox fan, so I let it go to give him a break, knowing how much he wanted Youk, too.

3B was kind of thin, so I ended up bidding more than I’d expected on Bautista as the last good 3B left, and I wasn’t happy about it at the time.